Directed by John Frankenheimer • 1966 • United States
Starring Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph
Rock Hudson is a revelation in this sinister, science-fiction-inflected dispatch from the fractured 1960s. SECONDS, directed by John Frankenheimer, concerns a middle-aged banker who, dissatisfied with his suburban existence, elects to undergo a strange and elaborate procedure that will grant him a new life. Starting over in America, however, is not as easy as it sounds. This paranoiac symphony of canted camera angles (courtesy of famed cinematographer James Wong Howe), fragmented editing, and layered sound design is a remarkably risk-taking Hollywood film that ranks high on the list of its legendary director’s achievements.
Up Next in Classic Hollywood
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Anatomy of a Murder
Directed by Otto Preminger • 1959 • United States
Starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben GazzaraA virtuoso James Stewart plays a small-town Michigan lawyer who takes on a difficult case: the defense of a young army lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a local tavern owner who he belie...
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The Big Heat
Directed by Fritz Lang • 1953 • United States
Starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee MarvinFritz Lang’s hard-boiled cop vs. criminals yarn stars Glenn Ford as Dave Bannion, a police detective and family man driven by grief to conduct a relentless vendetta against a mobster (Alexander Scourby)...
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On the Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan • 1954 • United States
Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. CobbMarlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy in this masterpiece of urban poetry. A raggedly emotional tale of individual failure and soc...